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Portal 4+ announced and other convention stuff


This is the big news. The fourth PoRtaL convention was announced, and it will take place in a month - April 15 to 17. True, it is a bit later than usual - so far it has been organized late February or early March - but it is happening. In Budapest, like the second convention (I was involved with organizing first and third conventions in Zagreb).

The program for fourth convention will provide more focus on the educational and interdisciplinary content, and besides the presentations, discussions and panels, there will also be chamber larps, larp exhibit, and there's a planned publication. There's a CFP for it, and presenters can send their presentations in article form to be included as well.

The main website (with registrations) is available here. You can also check the Facebook page and event for further info.

As a refresher, PoRtaL is the biggest larp convention in this part of Europe. And only one, because apart from PoRtaL, there are really no larp-specific conventions around. However, there is some larp content on other conventions.

GobliCon (web / facebook) is a major Slovenian convention, focused on tabletop RPG but also with some larp content. I had fun there last year. Unfortunately, this year it's in the same timeslot as PoRtaL.

Istrakon (April 8-10) and SFeraKon (May 13-15) are also close, and they are major Croatian conventions - mainly focused on SF and fantasy. They will also have some larp content. I plan to be on SFeraKon.

In Italy, there will be a gaming Play convention in Modena on April 1-3. I was there last year, talking about Izgon and the convention is huge. There will be tabletop, larp and freeform content during the convention. Most of it will be in Italian, but a sci-fi larp A Thousand Stars and No Home will also be available in English on Saturday evening, allowing you to play a refugee in a space opera setting.

One of the inspirations for PoRtaL was a major Nordic larp convention, which changes the name as it changes the four countries. It's Knutepunkt in Norway, Knutpunkt in Sweden, last year it was Knudepunkt in Denmark... and this year it was Solmukohta in Finland. As they do every year, they released convention books for free in PDF form. If you like progressive content and theory, check them out here.
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